One
of the most serious threats to Rhodesia, for example, was the landmines
laid by guerrillas on roads throughout the country’s principal farming
areas. Like many Third World countries, Rhodesia’s economy was based
on agricultural exports. Hence, it was vital that the roads and
communications links criss-crossing the country’s farm region be kept
open to both commercial traffic and security force patrols. The threat
was not only economic but political and psychological as well. The
Rhodesian governmental apparatus, for example, was breaking down in many
areas as officials found it increasingly difficult to travel in areas
with heavy insurgent activity. More serious, however, were the potential
effects that the mining could have on security force mobility. The
Rhodesians had been horrified to discover that similarly widespread
insurgent mining of roads in Mozambique had reduced the mobility of
their Portuguese counterparts in that country and had turned them
virtually into a “garrison army” whose personnel feared leaving
their fortified barracks and posts to go out on patrol.

Engineers in the Rhodesian police force and Army
devised several innovative and inexpensive modifications to ordinary
military and commercial vehicles that dramatically reduced the deaths
and injuries suffered by passengers when these protected vehicles struck
mines. Undeniably, mine-related casualties were reduced by 90 percent
and injuries by 20 percent.These simple measures included
filling tires with water and air to dissipateexplosive force, designing wheels that would blow clear of
the vehicle and thus not damage the axle, and mounting
special, V-shaped capsules onchassis
to deflect the blast. Not only
were they effective in keeping the roads open to traffic and
bolstering security force morale, but they also enabled the Rhodesians
to take back and retain control of the countryside and thereby deprived
the guerrillas of the freedom of
movement essential to their operations.